Editing Gates to the Garden/Towns (section)

==Pike’s Crossing==

Pike’s Crossing is a small Faithful settlement located by a ford, the eponymous Crossing. Winter is coming, and the harvest has been bad. Every family in the branch knows that it will take all their effort to make it through the winter – every family, that is, except the Fryes. 

===Pride===

Lemuel Frye is the most successful farmer in Pike’s Crossing. Hardworking, intelligent and organized, he’s got to where he is today by backbreaking toil and constant study of agronomy. Ezra Gooden, on the other hand, is a poor excuse for a farmer. A dreamer, he organizes his time badly and his family is hungry. His youngest child, a baby girl, died recently. When the Dogs arrive in town, her funeral is concluding. 

===Injustice===

Instead of helping Ezra, Lemuel looks down on him. Instead of humbling himself and asking his neighbor for help, Ezra hates and resents Lemuel, who enclosed some land Ezra had let go to waste. When his daughter dies, Ezra blames Lemuel. 

===Sin=== 

Lemuel has a teenaged son, Tobin. Tobin is attracted to Ezra’s wife, Sharon. Sharon encourages the boy and they have an affair. Tobin steals food from his father’s stores and gives it to Sharon. He says he is in love with her; she is wracked with guilt. When her daugher dies, she blames herself. 

===Demonic attacks===

The demons are the winter. No matter how hard the townsfolk work, no matter how much food they store, something always goes wrong. They are always one mistake away from starvation. 

===False doctrine===

Ezra’s loss has driven him into nihilism. He no longer believes that the King cares for him or guards him; he confuses the winter and the King. 

===People=== 

We’ve met them already. Only Simeon Vance, the Steward, is worth further mention. A cheerful, hardworking man, Simeon is dumbfounded by Ezra’s insane grief. All he can say is “he’ll get over it.” This is not true. 

===The Demons=== 

The demons want Ezra. Left unattended, he will fall further into despair. His family will begin to go hungry, and he will fall further and further. The demons want the Dogs to do anything that will make Ezra despair more, anything that will weaken the town’s ability to resist the coming winter. 

===What would happen if the Dogs didn’t come?=== 

If Ezra finds out that Sharon has been sleeping with Tobin, he might kill her. He might kill Tobin. He might very well kill himself. But if things go badly enough, he’ll come to understand that the winter is the King, cruel, heartless, and hungry. He'll start to worship it instead.